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UNITED STATES PATENTQFFIGE;

HENRY M. sTo'w', or sAN FRANCISCO, GALIFQRNIA.

HMPROVEMENT IN STREET-PAVEMENTS.

Specification Jr'orrnin,( part ot" Letters Patent No. 72,110, dated December 10, 1867.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY M. STOW, ofthe city and county of San Franciscoand State of California, have invented a new and usei'ul Improvement in Wooden Pavements for streets, sidewalks, and ground and cellar iioors; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon.

Figure A is a perspective view of a section oi' my street-pavement, that part oi' the ii gure designated by the letter C representing the pavement in process ot' construction, and that designated by C representing it as completed. Fig. B is a perspective view ot' a section ot' my improved pavement as adapted to sidewalks, ground and cellar floors.

The nature oi' my invention consists in put` ting down awooden pavement upon a foundation-hed ci' sand or loose earth, and packing the sand or earth by means of wedgeshaped blocks, driven down into the same, and forming a part or whoie ci' the pavement.

In constructing the street-pavement the street is iirst iilled with clear sand, loam, or loose earth, i'rec i'roin stones, to within about four to six inches oi' the desired street-grade, (according to the lengthv oi' blocks,) and smoothed ofi, so as to conform to the desired arch or crown ot' the street. Then wooden blocks, marked No. l in the drawings, are set on their ends in a tier across the street, these blocks being cut square at both ends. Next a tier ci' blocks, marked No. 2 in the dra-wings,

made wedgeshaped at their lower ends hy beveling on one side, is set across the street close against the iirst tier oi' square-ended blocks, and then another tier ot' square-ended blocks is set up as before, and so on alternate tiers or squarel und wedge-shaped blocks are placed until a space of ten feet or more is covered. rihen the \vedgesi1ai )ed blocks are driven down into the sand or earth with a remmer and swage until their upper ends are below the upperends ot' the square-ended blocks No. 1, and the foundation is ot' the desired compactness. The said wedge-shaped blocks No. 2 may be made oi' the same length "as the blocks No. l, and maybe driven down until their upper ends reach about the center oi' said.

blocks N o. l, as shown in Fig. A of the drawings, in which case the open spa-ces above them, between the blocks No. l, are to be filled with gravel; or the said blocks No. 2 may be made some two or three inches longer than the blocks No. 1, and driven down until their upper ends are ,only half or three-fourths of an inch, or thereabout, below the upper ends of blocks No. V1, leaving shallow grooves merely to give a foot-hold for horses and other animals traveling on the pavement. The said blocks No. l should be from four to six inches long, (or deep,) about three inches thick, and of any convenient width. The blocks No. 2 may be about one inch thick and ot' any convenient width. But I do not limit myseh.l to these dimensions.

The blocks should be so set as tobreak joints. The driving down ot' the wedgeshaped blocks, as described, packs the sand or earth so coinpactlv thatthe most heavily-ladened wagons passing over the pavement will never occasion any unevenuess in the surface there oi. The sand or earth forming the foundationbed should be thoroughly wet when the blocks are put down. The blocks are to be so iormed and set in the pavement that the grain of the wood will be vertical, and they may be saturated with coal or gas tar, or any liquid hydrocarbon or other resinous substance which will tend to preserve the wood from decay, before heilig' set in the pavement. When the blocks are sufficiently hannnered down the whole surface ot' the pavement should. be thoroughly saturated with boiling-hot coal-tar, asphaltum, pitch, oil and nsphaltum, or other pitchy substance, and covered with clean sand atleast haii' an inch in thickness.

For sidewalks and ground orcellar iioors I make ali the blocks ot the same length and thickness, and make the lower ends ot' all in wedge i'orm by beveling one side, us shown in Fig. B. For sidewalks l make the blocks from two to four inches in thickness and from four to six inches long; but for iioors of buildings,

nate tiers 0f square-ended and Wedgeslia-ped blocks, the Wedge-shaped ends of the latter being driven down into a foundation-bed of sand or eert-l1, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. A wooden pavement composed of blocks with lower ends Wedge-formed. and all driven down into a foundation-bed of sand 'or earth, substantially as shown and described.

HENRY M. STOW.

Witnesses:

J. J. OooMBs, J os. L. CooMBs. 

